The Farewell, full of culture clashes and great segments, strangely overlooked by the Academy

Lulu Wang's The Farewell (2019), with a great lead performance by rising star Awkwafina as a 20-something Chinese-American would-be writer (Billi) in NYC, is a movie full of multiple culture-clashes and generational clashes, family dramas and mini-dramas, and some hilarious and riotous segments. The plot in short: Billi learns that her beloved grandmother, Nai Nai, has received a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer; the catch, her parents - well-established Chinese-Americans living in the NY suburbs - tell her is that the family has agreed not to tell Nai Nai of the diagnosis; apparently this is a key element in Chinese culture: people die from the fear, not the cancer, they say. The family is to travel to China for the wedding of a nephew; against orders, so to speak, Billi follows, and throughout the movie there are clashes between her desire or need to tell grandma the truth and the efforts of the family members to shield her from her fate. That said, the movie is anything but morbid: It's full of humor and contains many great set pieces, often centered on food and on talk. The highlights come w/ the wedding of the nephew - his bride is Japanese, which gives yet another version of culture clash or shock; the wedding celebration - the songs, the karaoke, the tearful toasts, the drinking games - will seem riotous and unusual to most American viewers- but there is no question about the strength of family ties and the love these sibs and cousins have for one another and for their deceased forebears (the visit to the cemetery and grandfather's grave is another highlight) - though we do have to wonder about the likely fate of the marrying couple, who seem incredibly shy and immature. Throughout the film, there is much discussion and innuendo about the family members who have moved abroad, to the US or Japan, and their guilt about leaving their elderly mother/grandmother to the care and comfort of others - although the grandmother is totally supportive of her children and grandchildren who have emigrated and found prosperity abroad. The film has a bit of a kick at the ending as well; all told, a movie strangely overlooked by the Academy of Motion Pictures, but a promising career step for Wang and Awkwafina.